It has been reported before that Star Trek director JJ Abrams is doing as much location shooting as possible, and that Trek geek co-writers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci have laced the script with multiple Trek references. TrekMovie.com has learned that those two things will come together in fun homage to Trek’s past.

MINOR SPOILERS below.Vasquez Rocks to appear in Star TrekAn inside source has revealed to TrekMovie.com that the Star Trek crew will be shooting at the famed Vasquez Rocks Natural Area Park north of Los Angeles. It isn’t known when the shooting starts, but Paramount scouts have already visited the famed Trek locale. Vasquez Rocks is possibly most famously known as the spot where the Metrons staged the death match between Captain Kirk and the Gorn in “Arena.” The TOS crew also used Vasquez for three more episodes as well as Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (where it stood in for planet Vulcan). The Next Generation, Voyager and Enterprise also shot at Vasquez. Each time the location stood in for a different planet in the Trek universe. It is not known what planet it will be standing in for in the new Star Trek, but a source tells TrekMovie.com that the famous ‘Gorn Rock’ is likely to end up in the film as another one of those homage ‘Easter Eggs’ to the fans.

‘Gorn Rock’ to show up in new “Star Trek”

Vasquez not just for TrekVasquez is not just popular with Paramount shooting Trek, the location has been used by dozens of films and TV shows going back to 1928. Many of those films were westerns such as Dakota starring John Wayne, but also include genre films such as Army of Darkness and the 2001 remake of Planet of the Apes. Vasquez’s Trek connection also served as parody for films shooting there, such as Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey, Free Enterprise, and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. William Shatner recently returned to Vasquez to film the documentary How William Shatner Changed the World. The location will also be used for the upcoming Star Trek New Voyages episode “Rest and Retaliation.”

That just gives me a great, big, giddy smile on my face. The general public won’t recognize the location from squat, but the die-hards will get a great chuckle when the Rocks make their appearance in TREK XI.

Vasquez Rocks, woo-hoo! Curiously, it’s a bit of a disappointment in real life, so close to the freeway when you drive past it. But I have yet to take the exit and see what it’s like down up close and personal. Now I have another excuse to go!

JJ and his crewe should invest more in story rather than making location shot and other types of Easter eggs – judging by mi 3, which I finally saw last night. Sure was a lot of plot getting in the way of any story there.

Gotta love those rocks! Just saw them in an episode of Wild WIld West…along with the fort on cestus 3…apparently it was built right outside the rocks. It’s only fitting that they should make a cameo in this TOS movie. Cool news for sure!

i concur…socks under sandals…not cool!
I remember visiting Vasquez Rocks in 1986 where they were filming back ground shots for “Masters of the Universe” with Dolph Lungren – while my wife and my friends and i took trek pose photos…and the crew though we were mad!
ah to be young again!

It’s not Trek, but the first live-action Flintstones film built all the Bedrock locations around Vasquez Rocks… I’m pretty sure at least one episode of Brisco County filmed there as well – it’s a very popular location…

And of course, I even shot part of my own film “The Jedi Hunter” out there five years ago… :)

#35. “re: 24 Litenbug
“You take an awful lot of interest in a film you profess to dislike”

It’s like a train wreck. You want to look away…but you can’t.”

Find the strength of character.

What’s with the “fake actor” business, anyway? It’s not like any of the folks cast so far are, based on their previous work, any more or less “real” than the motley group of TV actors who’ve appeared in TOS and other Trek in the past. I mean, is Eric Bana less “real” an actor than the Shat? Not bloody likely. :lol:

Spock said, in “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield,” “Change is the essential process of all existence.”

I guess that adds up to a lot of potentially frightened people?

Of course, some change is for the better, some for the worse. No one can tell which r the upcoming ST movie will be. The only thing we know is that the only way change will not happen, in Star Trek as in a person’s personality, is if it is dead.

Just curious, Dennis – does Paramount pay you to defend online every currently-in-production Star Trek project? I very clearly recall you applauding and defending everything going on in the first season of “Enterprise” on TrekBBS.com way back when. Or are you just really enthusiastic about everything until you actually see it?

it is our job as fans to keep trek alive. i very much disliked ent seasons 1 and 2, 3 got better… but i watched every episode and guess how glad i was (because season 4 was the greatest of all trek).
same with nemesis. i didn’t like it and i still don’t like it. it’s like st5 with the many mistakes.
but i have the special edition dvd of nemesis. because i still like to see the enterprise flying into the unknown.

i will watch this movie many times in theaters, i will buy the dvd (special ed. if there will be one), the pc game, the soundtrack cd and the book. no matter what. because it will be a part of trek history and only the money will make sure that the trek continues.

I remember seeing, several years ago, a magazine spread of the Shat, resplendent in his STVI era uniform, posing with pretty women. Does this ring a bell for anyone? (The discussion of his sock and sandal feux pas popped that memory up out of the hazy hopper….)

Perhaps it was more in the Generatons era, I’m not sure. He had several hot babes hanging on him while he wore a movie-era uniform, and smiled (leered?) at the camera knowingly….it could have been a layout called “The Women Of Star Trek” or something like that…

If anyone remembers that, let me know. Perhaps those pics are online somewhere…they were most cheesy, and yet fun to look at…

since you mention New Voyages someone on their forums sed this since both productions are filming at Vasquez:

QUOTE:
“ah imagine the scene
James Cawley: I’m Captain Kirk
Chris Pine: I’m Cadet Kirk
James Cawley: I’m Captain Kirk.
William Shatner (jumping out from behind a large rock): I’M CAPTAIN KIRK
JJ Abrams: Okay who invited the fat man in the girdle? Get him out of here. If we’ve told you once, we’ve told you twice, Bill, you’re just not in this movie.”

So, if I understand this correctly, and I think I do………when JJ Abrams is filming Star Trek XI at Vasquez Rocks, while still wrestling with how to fit Bill Shatner into the film…….we can then say, both literally and figuratively, that Mr. Abrams is stuck between a ROCK and a HARD PLACE!!!

Sorry, I love Trek and the “Rocks” goes with that, but there are far more spectacular mountains, rocks and peaks than this. Rushmore is one of them, but it likely has less meaning to a non-American. No offense intended.

It’s all about perception. There are many aspects about a particular country that draws in tourists that would otherwise be ignored by the locals.

I live in Ireland, and we sell ourselves on the perception of tourists that we are a quaint and traditional country.

Take the whole Lord of the Rings movies series and the effort that the New Zealand tourism board put into the promotion of that countrys involvement in the trilogy.

I know that it is simple for me to travel to the US and explore the more well known tourist spots. But I would really like to see and experience Vasquez Rocks in person. They seem so unique and spectacular.

Abrams is likely filming a very small segment at Vazquez Rocks. VR were also used in Free Enterprise, when the main character and his girlfriend, both Trek fans, had a date there.

A few people mentioned Mount Rushmore. That was a proposed “location” for Sulu and Chekov in ST V, when they get lost. It would have been an effects shot I think. Since the FF budget was so tight, it was not used, but the DVD has a very shoddy mock up of it.

There is also a change in the focal length of the zoom lens, from wide in September to telephoto more recently. Wide focal lengths distort facial features in close-ups. Longer focal lengths are more flattering on actors.

I was at the rocks today, and there is a set being built. The security guards said that the film was to start shooting on Monday, and that it was a “space film”….that is all they would tell me. Might just be Star Trek! I’ll be watching for the scene and the set I saw for sure!

LOL. I read somewhere (probably here on trekmovie.com) that one of the locations is a secret desert spot in SoCal. I immediately thought “It’s probably at that big rock from the TOS Kirk vs. Gorn episode…”

57, 67 — I’ve always thought that the Shat still looks good enough to play Kirk again. If he could drop some poundage, he’d look fine in a TV movie of Spock & Sulu yanking their beloved Captain out of the Nexus (similar tot he bbk trailer 2). What do they do with him after they yank him out of the Nexus? I dunno, hopefully the writers are back by then and they can figure that out. Nevertheless, it would be a sweet TV or theatrical movie.

I don’t think it quite accurate to compare Bana to Shatner in terms of the ST background. By using the word “fake” Stanky was referring to actors being about to play those roles which have been played by the same actors for almost 4 decades. Bana will introduce a new character to the ST universe.

Anyway, caring for the original series and having doubts concerning re-casts doesn’t necessarily make you a chicken.

65. reptileboy – November 24, 2007
Sorry to “lower” your estimation of me, but I’ve not yet seen the the rocks, but’s on the list. Rushmore, Chimney Rock, Scottsbuff, Pike’s Peak, Haleakala, the Devil’s Tower (from Close Encounters)… those I have seen and all impressive in their way. Good luck on your travels.

#59. The US has a zillion other fascinating geographical thingies besides the vasquez rocks. As someone else mentioned, it’s right by a highway. I’ve seen a lot weirder places in the US, but my favorite is the Joshua Tree national park, just outside of Palm Springs, CA. That place was really truly weird, and I kept thinking when I was there that it is a lot weirder than any science fiction planet I’d ever seen in a movie. And I wondered why no production had yet taken advantage of it. You drive into it and there are these enormous piles of rock that look like a giant just arranged into a pile for fun. Like, no natural force could’ve arranged them that way. Weird.

Why were the “Rocks” so popular? Easy answer; accesible, cheap, and locale? Yeah, there probably are much more “alien” locales available in the U.S. but those were conveniently nearby. :-) Did they use them in Galaxy Quest? I thought they did, not sure. :-)

The use of the VR adds a huge geek factor for the movie, so, in that respect, I think that its much more of a “Valentine” to us than the ending v.o. scenes from TATV.

That having been said, I’d have to concur that while they are interesting, and their proximity to a major urban area and accessibility adds something to the interest, there are a number of geologic features just in the lower 48 that I’ve seen — and, I know that there are many, many, others that I’ve only heard about via others’ personal descriptions (never mind those that don’t aren’t covered in those two catagories) — that would be more interesting than the V.R. — and aren’t ‘the usual tourist sites’.

Just a note to JJ and company… while you’re filming out there, bring back some of the diamonds — :D

I think the location was used in the “Roswell” series as well, possibly where their ship landed or something.

I also think MI3 is a perfect example of why J.J. is the perfect choice to do this movie: MI3 was the only film of the three that actually felt like the original Mission Impossible series – and isn’t that exactly what we want for Star Trek?

You know, unlike most of the Original Series crew and guest stars, the Vasques Rocks have aged the best. Very little change in them, except for a couple small cracks here and there. At least they will play themselves and not younger, fresh-faced replacement rocks.